Explanatory note.

Today they believe, and their faith is unshakable, because it is grounded in evidence and demonstration, and because it satisfies reason. […] Such is the faith of the Spiritists, and the proof of its strength is that they strive to become better, to master their evil inclinations and to put into practice the maxims of Christ, regarding all men as brothers, without distinction of races, of castes, or of sects, forgiving their enemies, repaying evil with good, after the example of the divine model.” (KARDEC, Allan. Revista Espírita of 1868. 1st ed. Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 2005. p. 28, January 1868.) The rigorously rational and scientific investigation of facts that revealed the communication of men with the Spirits, carried out by Allan Kardec, resulted in the structuring of the Spiritist Doctrine, systematized under its scientific, philosophical, and religious aspects.

From 1854 until his death in 1869, his work consisted of five basic works: The Spirits' Book , The Mediums' Book , The Gospel According to Spiritism , Heaven and Hell , Genesis , besides the work What Is Spiritism , a series of small treatises, and 136 issues of the Spiritist Review (from January 1858 to April 1869). After his death, the book Posthumous Works was edited.

The meticulous and impartial study of these works allows us to draw basic conclusions: a) all human beings are immortal Spirits created by God under conditions of equality, subject to the same natural laws of progress that lead all, gradually, to perfection; b) progress occurs through successive experiences, in countless reincarnations, necessarily living through all social segments, the only way for the Spirit to accumulate the learning necessary to its development; c) in the period between reincarnations the Spirit remains in the Spiritual World, being able to communicate with men; d) progress obeys the moral laws taught and lived by Jesus, our guide and model, a reference for all men who wish to develop in a conscious and voluntary manner. At various points in his work, the Codifier refers to the Spirits incarnated in uncultured and savage tribes, then existing in some regions of the Planet, and which, in contact with other poles of civilization, had been undergoing countless transformations, many with evident benefit to their members, resulting from the general progress to which all ethnicities are subject, regardless of the coloring of their skin.

In the time of Allan Kardec, the phrenological ideas of Gall, and those of the physiognomy of Lavater, were accepted by eminent men of Science, just as the publication in 1859 — two years after the release of The Spirits' Book — of the book on the Evolution of Species, by Charles Darwin, provoked enormous agitation in the media and among the intelligentsia and the general population, with the natural inaccuracies and misunderstandings that every new science presents. Moreover, the belief that the features of the physiognomy reveal a person's character is very ancient, claiming that there are apparent relations between the physical and the moral aspect. The Codifier did not agree with various aspects presented by these so-called sciences. In this way, he sought to evaluate the conclusions of these eminent researchers in the light of the revelation of the Spirits, bringing to the debate the spiritual element as a decisive factor in addressing the questions of human diversity and inequality.

Allan Kardec found, in the principles of the Spiritist Doctrine, explanations that point to wise and supreme laws, which is why he affirmed that Spiritism makes it possible to “resolve the thousands of historical, archaeological, anthropological, theological, psychological, moral, social, etc. problems.” (Spiritist Review, 1862, p. 401.)

Indeed, the universal laws of love, of charity, of the immortality of the soul, of reincarnation, of evolution constitute new parameters for understanding the development of human groups, in the various regions of the Globe.

This understanding of the Divine Laws allows Allan Kardec to affirm that:

The body derives from the body, but the Spirit does not proceed from the Spirit. Among the descendants of the races there is only consanguinity.” (The Spirits' Book, item 207, p. 176.)

[…] Spiritism, restoring to the Spirit its true role in Creation, ascertaining the superiority of intelligence over matter, naturally causes all the distinctions established among men, according to bodily and worldly advantages, to disappear—distinctions on which pride alone founded castes and the stupid prejudices of color.” (Spiritist Review, 1861, p. 432.)

The privileges of races have their origin in the abstraction that men generally make of the spiritual principle, in order to consider only the external material being. From the constitutional strength or weakness of some, from a difference of color in others, from birth in opulence or in misery, from noble or plebeian consanguineous lineage, they concluded a natural superiority or inferiority. It was upon this datum that they established their social laws and the privileges of races. From this circumscribed point of view, they are consistent with themselves, since, considering only material life, certain classes seem to belong, and really do belong, to different races. But if one takes their point of view from the spiritual being, the essential and progressive being, in a word, from the Spirit, preexistent and surviving everything, whose body is merely a temporary covering, varying, like clothing, in form and color; if, moreover, from the study of spiritual beings there emerges the proof that these beings are of identical nature and origin, that their destiny is the same, that all set out from the same point and tend toward the same goal; that bodily life is merely an incident, one of the phases of the life of the Spirit, necessary to its intellectual and moral advancement; that in view of this advancement the Spirit may successively don diverse coverings, be born in different positions, one arrives at the capital consequence of equality of nature and, from there, at the equality of the social rights of all human creatures and at the abolition of the privileges of races. This is what Spiritism teaches. You who deny the existence of the Spirit in order to consider only corporeal man, the perpetuity of the intelligent being in order to regard only the present life, you repudiate the only principle on which is founded, with reason, the equality of rights that you claim for yourselves and for your fellow men.” (Spiritist Review, 1867, p. 231.) With reincarnation, the prejudices of races and of castes disappear, for the same Spirit may be born again rich or poor, capitalist or proletarian, chief or subordinate, free or slave, man or woman. Of all the arguments invoked against the injustice of servitude and slavery, against the subjection of woman to the law of the stronger, there is none that excels, in logic, the material fact of reincarnation. If, then, reincarnation founds upon a law of Nature the principle of universal fraternity, it also founds upon the same law that of the equality of social rights and, consequently, that of liberty. (Genesis, chapter I, item 36, p. 42-43. See also Spiritist Review, 1867, p. 373.) At the time, Allan Kardec knew only what various authors recounted regarding the African savages, always reduced to almost total brutishness, when not mercilessly enslaved.

It is based on these “scientific” reports of the time that the Codifier repeats, in other words, what the European researchers described upon returning from the voyages they made to black Africa. Nevertheless, he is peremptory in addressing the question of racial prejudice:

We work to give faith to those who believe in nothing; to spread a belief that makes them better toward one another, that teaches them to forgive enemies, to regard one another as brothers, without distinction of race, caste, sect, color, political or religious opinion; in a word, a belief that gives rise to the true sentiment of charity, of fraternity, and of social duties. (KARDEC, Allan. Revista Espírita of 1863 – 1st ed. Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 2005. — January 1863.)

“The man of good is good, humane, and benevolent toward all, without distinction of races or of creeds, because in all men he sees his brothers. (The Gospel According to Spiritism, Chap. XVII, item 3, p. 348.)

It is also important to understand that the texts published by Allan Kardec in the Spiritist Review had as their purpose to submit to general evaluation the communications received from the Spirits, as well as to gauge the correspondence of these teachings with theories and systems of thought prevailing at the time. In a Note to Chapter XI, item 43, of the book Genesis, the Codifier explains this methodology:

“When, in the Spiritist Review of January 1862, we published an article on the interpretation of the doctrine of the fallen angels, we presented that theory as a simple hypothesis, with no other authority besides that of a debatable personal opinion, because we then lacked elements sufficient for a peremptory affirmation. We set it forth by way of an essay, with a view to provoking examination of the question, resolved, however, to abandon or modify it, if necessary. At present, that theory has already passed through the test of universal control. Not only was it well accepted by the majority of Spiritists, as the most rational and the most in accord with the sovereign justice of God, but it was also confirmed by the generality of the instructions that the Spirits gave on the subject. The same occurred with that which concerns: the origin of the Adamic race.” (Genesis, Chap. XI, item 43, Note, p. 292.) Finally, it is urgent to recognize that the principal scope of the Spiritist Doctrine resides in the moral perfecting of the human being, which is why scientific and/or philosophical inquiries and investigations occupy a secondary position, although important, in view of their provisional character resulting from progress and general perfecting. In this sense, the Codifier's warning is just:

It is true that this and other questions stray from the moral point of view, which is the essential goal of Spiritism. This is why it would be a mistake to make them the object of constant preoccupations. We know, moreover, with respect to the principle of things, that the Spirits, since they do not know everything, say only what they know or what they think they know. But as there are persons who could draw from the divergence of these systems an inference against the unity of Spiritism, precisely because they are formulated by the Spirits, it is useful to be able to compare the reasons for and against, in the interest of the doctrine itself, and to support upon the assent of the majority the judgment that can be made of the value of certain communications.” (Spiritist Review, 1862, p. 38.) These considerations having been made, it is legitimate to conclude that in the Spiritist Doctrine the most absolute respect for human diversity prevails, it being the Spiritist's duty to cooperate for the progress of Humanity, exercising charity in its most encompassing sense (“benevolence toward all, indulgence for the imperfections of others, and forgiveness of offenses”), just as Jesus understood it, our Guide and Model, without prejudices of any kind: of color, ethnicity, sex, creed, or economic, social, or moral condition. The Publisher.

[1] Publisher's Note: This “Explanatory Note,” published pursuant to an agreement with the Federal Public Ministry, has as its objective to demonstrate the absence of any discrimination or prejudice in some passages of the works of Allan Kardec, all of which are characterized by the upholding of the principles of Christian fraternity and solidarity, contained in the Spiritist Doctrine.